Diligence trumps effort with a low carb healthy fat diet

Remember the What the Fat? low carb healthy fat (LCHF) summer challenge? We’ve shown you the first seven rules:

1.    Go low HI (eat real food)
2.    Cut the carbs down … it’s the sugar and carbs that stimulate getting overweight and feeling lethargic
3.    Virtuous vegetables – if you haven’t heard, veggies are good for you
4.    Make fat your friend (that’s right eat more!!)
5.    Put protein in its place (don’t eat too much of it)
6.    Eat on cue (take some notice of when you are hungry or not)
7.    Sort your support (others will help you).

Just 3 rules to go – toady’s Rule #8 is Diligence, not Effort

Rule #8: Diligence, not Effort

Getting organised (diligence) always trumps willpower (effort) when it comes to eating.
In my family we can be diligent – we get organised and go shopping for food. We even buy healthy food. But we are hopeless when it comes to willpower – like avoiding the chocolate biscuits in the cupboard. In fact, our willpower is so bad that any of that sort of food is scoffed down almost immediately.

The solution?  Don’t bring it into the house in the first place!!!  Low carb healthy fat eating is a lifestyle, not a “diet” or a “fad”. Diligence is about consistency and being organised. Be diligent because most of us, including me and my family, lack willpower when it really counts.

I don’t believe there is any point in starting something to meet a specified goal and then stopping. That’s a “diet”! We don’t believe in diets, but are more interested in helping you see the sense and giving you the tools to assist a change in mindset. Consider, for example, how you look after your teeth: you brush them each morning and night and you floss (hopefully), which can seem like an effort, but you do it to preserve your teeth, which you understand are important to you. “Dietary diligence” is just as important: every single cell in your body is dependent on what you put in your mouth. Make the attempt to look after your cells and you’re going to be looking after your health and the health of your family.

Think about the activities required to make this work: a little bit of meal planning, grocery shopping, storage of groceries, preparation of meals. Instead of viewing these as tasks or an effort, flip your mindset and look at this as an opportunity – the opportunity to set up for a well organised week ahead. Making these processes into rituals helps them happen with greater reliability. For example, on Saturdays, I go shopping to make sure I have enough of the right food in the fridge, and on Sundays we prepare and cook for the week ahead.

“If you fail to prepare … you prepare to fail!”

Until next time!

Prof Grant Schofield, Dr Caryn Zinn, Craig Rodger